Howard Johnson has decided against heading for the Orient and one of Japan's richest jump races with Direct Route but trips to Cheltenham and Aintree are still firmly on the agenda.
The Crook-based trainer had been invited to enter his star for the two-and-a-half mile Nakayama Grand Jump on April 15th but he said today: "The entries close tomorrow but I don't like the look of the race at the moment and I won't be putting him in.
"It is about £420,000 to the winner and the horse which finishes eighth of the 16 maximum runner race gets £28,000 so the prize money is a big temptation but you've got to think of the horse at this stage of his career."
Johnson had been under the impression that the race would be run on a flat track and on fast ground, but he went on: "I have had a look at a video of the race and they go down six banks right and left handed and it looks like a gimmicky race to me."
With the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the Mumm Melling Chase at Aintree very tempting alternatives, Johnson added: "When they rang me yesterday I said we might take him next year.
"You don't want to go all the way there when you have a horse capable of winning a Champion Chase you know, as he is nine now this could be his last chance to win that race."
Direct Route was only fourth best behind Nordance Prince in the Victor Chandler Chase at Ascot last month and Johnson reasoned: "The ground went against him there, he wants good, fast ground to bring out the best in him. He will then go to Aintree, he loves it there and so do I."
Johnson does not intend to run him before the Festival but he concluded: "He is in very good form at the moment and I am very happy with him but he is just hacking around the farm helping round up the stock."
